PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT for the Gaza Cultural Centre Campaign.
Email: gazacentrecampaign@aztheatre.org.uk
Organised by a group of artists and activists in Gaza, Ramallah, London and New York, this appeal is supported by Caryl Churchill (Playwright, UK), Harriet Walter (Actor, UK), Iman Aoun (Actor, Co-Director: Ashtar Theatre, Palestine), Omar Al Qattan (Chair: A M Qattan Foundation, UK), Wallace Shawn (Playwright, US), Jamal Al Rozzi (NGO Chief Executive Officer, Co-Director: Theatre for Everybody, Palestine), Jessica Litwak (Theatre Director, HEAT Collective, US), Ali Abu Yasin (Actor/Director, Palestine), Shalva Wise (Producer & Organizer, US), Jonathan Chadwick (Theatre Director, Az Theatre, UK), Hossam Al Madhoun (Child Protection Programme Manager, Co-Director: Theatre for Everybody, Palestine), Deborah Eisenberg (Writer, US), International Committee for Artists Freedom (UK)
We, the undersigned, are shocked at the total destruction of the Said Al Mishal Cultural Centre in Gaza on August 9th, 2018 by a targeted Israeli military airstrike.
We stand with those in Gaza and the wider community who describe their great rage and deep pain at the obliteration of this symbol of Palestinian culture and identity, and as they mourn the destruction of one of the few large venues for theatre and music in besieged Gaza.
Since its establishment in 2004, Al Mishal served as a home for hundreds of plays, ceremonies, exhibits, musical performances and community events. The centre also included recreational activities for children who have been affected by three successive wars in Gaza, including a dabkeh dance school for hundreds of local children. It is a devastating loss for the already isolated community.
We pledge our support to continue the Al Mishal’s role through this international campaign to rebuild a cultural centre for Gaza.
The Gaza Cultural Centre Campaign organisers are committed to developing and working with an international action committee rooted in Gaza’s creative community.
We urge all those concerned with the importance of creative culture to pledge their support to this effort. We mean this to be a demonstration of the strength of our feeling and as a commitment to be active in the project of rebuilding a cultural centre for Gaza.
Statement by Palestinian Performing Arts Network. PPAN Statement here
Supporters: Heather Raffo (Playwright, US), April de Angelis (Playwright, UK), Les Waters (Theatre Director, US), Sacha Wares (Theatre Director, UK), Maysoon Pachachi (Film-maker, UK), Dr. Gottfried M. Heuer (Jungian Psychoanalyst, UK), Penelope Skinner (Playwright, UK), Phyllida Lloyd (Theatre Director, UK), Dr Ghada Karmi (Academic and Writer, UK), Dr Swee Ang (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, UK), Chris Knight (Professor of Anthropology, UK), Camilla Power (Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, UK), Deborah Kaufman (Film-maker, US), Alan Snitow (Film-maker, US), Steve Tompkins (Architect, UK), Salma Samar Damluji (Architect, Iraq & UK), Rufus Norris (Director, National Theatre, UK), James Macdonald (Director, UK), Dominic Cooke (Director, UK), Bruce Kent (Vice President: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK), Annie Baker (Playwright, US), Deborah Findlay (Actor, UK), Martin Kemp (Psychotherapist, UK-Palestine Mental Health Network, UK), David Calder (Actor, UK), Flavia Donati (Psychiatrist-Psychotherapist, Italy), Heba Zaphiriou-Zarifi (Jungian Analytical Psychologist, UK), Erika Gsell (Psychotherapist, Italy), Jim Pye (Psychotherapist, UK), Dr. Alexander Schieffer ( University Professor, Activist: Trans4m Center for Integral Development, France), Eliana Pinto (Psychotherapist, UK-Palestine Mental Health Network, UK), Jackie Walker (Activist, Writer, Dramatist, UK), Nicolas Till (Professor of Opera and Musical Theatre, UK), Kika Markham (Actor, UK), Tanya Myers (Actor, Dramatist, UK), Stephen Lowe (Playwright, UK), Sheelah Sloane (Arts Project Manager, UK), Pauline Melville (Writer, UK), Laila Alj (Actor, UK), Greg Wilkinson (Activist, UK), Mica Nava (University Professor, UK), Rose Levinson (Writer, UK), Jonathan Arndell (Architect, Wales, UK), Andy de la Tour (Actor, Writer, UK), David Lan (Writer, UK), Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso (Producer, Artist, UK), Anthony Meyer (Artist, UK), Judith Knight (Producer, Director Arts Admin, UK), Janet Henfrey (Actress, UK), Susan Wooldridge (Actor, Writer, UK), Sarah Pirozek (Writer, Director, Producer, US), Caroline Steinbeis (Theatre Director, UK), Cathy Deforest (Artist Activist, US), Miriam Margolyes (Actor, UK), Linda Chapman (Associate Artistic Director: She/Her/Hers, US), Stephen Kobasa (Writer, Curator, US), Wilma Vissers (Visual Artist, Netherlands), David Edgar (Playwright, UK), John Fuller (Writer, UK), Steven Rose (Professor of Neuroscience, UK), Betty Hunter (Honorary President: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, UK), Nicolas Wright (Playwright, UK), Anne Washburn (Playwright, US), Julian Maynard Smith (Artist, UK), Anna Carteret (Actor, UK), Bijan Sheibani (Theatre Director, UK), UK-Palestine Mental Health Network (UK), Peter Barbor (Paediatrician, UK), Victoria Brittain (Writer, UK), Sue Beardon (Activist, UK), Cressida Brown (Theatre Director, UK), Antony McDonald (Director, Designer, UK), Rama Kani (Activist & Theatre Maker: Theatre of Transformation, France), Beau Beausoleil (Poet, US), Jeremy Seabrook (Writer, UK), Kathleen Chalfant (Actor, US), Dave Rendle (no occupation, UK), Casey Smith (Poet/Professor, US), Birgit Carolin (Child Psychotherapist, UK), Martin Brown (Activist, UK), John Tydeman (Drama Director, former Head of BBC Radio Drama, UK), Scarabeus Aerial Theatre (UK), Linda Rogers (Actor/teacher, UK), Peter Carolin (Architect, UK), Naomi Wallace (Playwright, US), Caitlin McLeod (Theatre Director, UK), Ian Rickson (Theatre Director, UK), Louise Bullivant (Solicitor, UK), Philip Arditti (Actor, UK), Naomi Hart (Artist, UK), Matthew Herbert (Composer, UK), Tariq Dajani (Photographer-artist, printmaker, UK), Catherine Cartwright (Artist, UK), Yannis Thavoris (Stage Designer-Scenographer, UK), Richard Eyre (Director, UK), Anya Ryzhenkova (Film-Maker, UK), Peter Sinclair (Charity Trustee, UK), Dolores Altaras (Architect, UK), David Harold (Teacher, UK), Lisbeth Haas (Historian, US), Bill Denham (Poet, US), George Killingsworth (Actor, US), Summer Brenner (Writer Activist, US), Duncan MacMillan (Playwright, UK), Riva Joffe (Psychotherapist, UK), Hannah Khalil (Playwright, UK), Barney Norris (Writer, UK), Katherine MacBride (Artist, UK/Netherlands), Chipo Chung (Actor, UK), Hassan Abdulrazzak (Playwright, UK), Felicia Rice (Publisher, US), Cecilia Mandrile (Visual Artist/Educator, Argentina), Haji Yousef (Writer, Morocco/France), Kamel Al Basha (Actor/Director, Palestine), James Yeatman (Theatre Director, UK), Rami Al Salmi (Actor/Director, Palestine), Zoe Lawlor (Teacher, Ireland), Gaza Action Ireland (Ireland), Liz Magnes (Pianist/Composer/Teacher, US), Clare Coulter (Actor, Canada), Sabrina Mahfouz (Writer, UK), Between the Seas Mediterranean Performing Arts (Greece), Selma Dabbagh (Writer, UK), Zohar Regev (Freedom Flotilla Activist, US), Nicolas Blincoe (Novelist/Historian, UK), David Farr (Writer/Director, UK), Marina Warner (Writer/Professor of English and Creative Writing, UK), Charlie Ellingworth (Author, UK), Mercedes Kemp (Theatre Maker, UK), Azza El-Hassan (Film-maker, Palestine/UK), Omar Robert Hamilton (Writer, Egypt/UK), Valentina Zagaria (Anthropologist/Theatre-Maker, UK), Yanni Bianconi (Writer, UK), Bridget Le Huray (Retired Nurse,UK), Yousif Qusmiyeh (Poet/Researcher, UK), Cherry Smith (Poet, England), Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (Afghanistan), Thomas Pope (Alexander Teacher, UK), Equity (Trade Union, UK), Ulrike Kreis (Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, Germany), David Roger (Theatre Designer, UK), Andrea Hassiba (Artist/arts educator/teacher, USA), Guy Shennan (Social Worker, UK), Ruth Lass (Actor, UK), Saleh Mamon (Retired Headteacher), Gareth Evans, (Curator, UK), Dania Arafeh (Gallery Relations Manager, UK),
Email: gazacentrecampaign@aztheatre.org.uk to pledge your support
NOTES:
- This pledge requests your name, email, occupation, and country of residence. This information will only be used for future correspondence about this project and will not be shared with anyone.
- You can pledge your support as an organisation or an individual. Your name (individual or organisation) will appear in public.
- The custodians of this support network’s list of members are Az Theatre (London) and The HEAT Collective (New York).
- For further information about the destruction of the Al Mishal Cultural Centre:
- Article posted on Hyperallergic on the day after the bombing 10 August 2018, Read Hyperallergic article
- Letter from leading UK theatre practitioners published in The Guardian on 16 August 2018: Read letter in The Guardian
- Article from The Guardian 16 August 2018: Read article in The Guardian
- Video made in Gaza by Ashtar Theatre about the loss of the Cultural Centre: View video
Email your support: gazacentrecampaign@aztheatre.org.uk
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